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40 Years of La Masia: Ranking the 15 Best Graduates From Barcelona's Fabled Academy

Barcelona's famous La Masia academy was founded on 20 October 1979, and we have seen some outstanding talents emerge from the system in the 40 years since.

Few academies in Europe can hold a candle to La Masia, which has produced legends, champions, heroes and superstars in industrial numbers.

Here are 15 of the finest graduates in La Masia history...

A tenacious right back, Albert Ferrer worked his way up through the Barcelona ranks as a teenager, and was rewarded with a loan move to CD Tenerife in the 1989/90 campaign.

After impressing, Ferrer returned to Camp Nou to become the instant first-choice right-back for Barcelona.